Manage the stress of other people - and still do your job with authority

Try these tips to accommodate your basic disposition while still doing your job.

Posted: February 23, 2016

Dealing with people all day long can be draining for some managers. You can’t hide in your office all day avoiding
stressful encounters, though. Try these tips to accommodate
your basic disposition while still doing your job:

• Schedule your time. Plan your days, weeks, and months,
and stick to the plan. Organization not only helps you
become more efficient, but it also helps you buffer difficult
encounters by giving you time to prepare for them. A strict
schedule can also help you postpone handling unpleasant
surprises encounters until you’re ready.

• Map out regular encounters. Write a script or outline for
staff meetings, performance evaluations, coaching sessions,
and the like. Document what you want to happen first,
second, and so on. Cover topics to be discussed, phrases to
move the conversation along, problems or conflicts that
might arise, and solutions for handling them. You’ll be seen
as detail oriented, responsible, and well organized.

• Anticipate surprise situations. Take notes following
surprise stressful situations, and document them as above.
Study your notes and procedures so you’re ready when each
situation (for example, dealing with an angry customer)
recurs.

• Listen and look for the positive. When you are talking to
employees, focus more on what they are saying than on
your own feelings. Then focus on their attempts to do their
jobs well and the strengths they show in doing so. You’ll see
that many others share your commitment to handling the
situation well.

—Adapted from From Difficult to Disturbed, by Laurence Miller
(AMACOM)